"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

Most of you condemning this call either don't know or are pretending not to know that unsportsmanlike conduct can be called for any (get this now) conduct the referee deems to be unsportsmanlike. It doesn't need to be one of the examples listed in the rule book. It may have been a bad call, but to call it the wrong call seems a little presumptuous to me

Most of you condemning this call either don't know or are pretending not to know that unsportsmanlike conduct can be called for any (get this now) conduct the referee deems to be unsportsmanlike. It doesn't need to be one of the examples listed in the rule book. It may have been a bad call, but to call it the wrong call seems a little presumptuous to me

Wonder how long Homer is called for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Blocking the goaltenders view of the puck surely is unfair and therefore must be considered unsportsmanlike, right?

"All done? Five bucks." - Pavel Datsyuk after an interview"Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings." - Steve Yzerman

You guys are nuts. Clearly ACCORDING TO THE RULE BOOK, that was the wrong call. You are all whining and calling foul ONLY because its Pronger and you all hate him. Don't let your biases cloud the fact that what he did was clearly within the rules 100%. I'm pretty sure he was the one to tip the pass too, its not like he was just gooning it up like Avery.

Seems like you are all whining without actually having seen the video. His hand is up for less than 1 second, nothing even remotely similar to what Avery did.

Just because you hate Pronger doesn't make it the right call.

Perhaps so, but Pronger has done little/nothing to help his standing in here or in general as one of the league's dirtiest players. Not suggesting that he changes his game to do that just to cater to fans which is absurd obviously, but don't act surprised when people don't really feel sorry for him in a situation like this given his past incidents, whether those instances or this call was fair or not.

Wonder how long Homer is called for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Blocking the goaltenders view of the puck surely is unfair and therefore must be considered unsportsmanlike, right?

You aren't getting the idea. A player can stand in front of the goalie in an effort to deflect pucks as well as try to screen the goalie. Waving your hand in front of the his face serves no other purpose but to block his view and it looks ridiculously bush league. Excellent call by the ref.

You aren't getting the idea. A player can stand in front of the goalie in an effort to deflect pucks as well as try to screen the goalie. Waving your hand in front of the his face serves no other purpose but to block his view and it looks ridiculously bush league. Excellent call by the ref.

I can see that, but when it all comes to a head, blocking the goalies view is blocking the goalies view.

"All done? Five bucks." - Pavel Datsyuk after an interview"Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings." - Steve Yzerman

Most of you condemning this call either don't know or are pretending not to know that unsportsmanlike conduct can be called for any (get this now) conduct the referee deems to be unsportsmanlike. It doesn't need to be one of the examples listed in the rule book. It may have been a bad call, but to call it the wrong call seems a little presumptuous to me

Except the rule called on the ice was referenced to a rule that states a player must be facing the goalie, in which Pronger was not.

The Best Of BCHankthaTank- Squirrels, they hate to be thrown. / Why is the magical unicorn named Brian... Jedi - I just downloaded the "kids" book, "Go the F--k to Sleep" as narrated by Samuel L. Jackson on my kindle. I am now ready to be a daddy. / *Checks Router* No, I'm positive I didn't hit the "Wings Defense Sucks" button. Electrophile - I'm just glad the Wings were able to win despite the Curse of Brian. ACallToArms - I think Trey needs to put something about payroll tax and deferred income in his sig... Edicius- I'd rather [have] a soundbite of me saying "I like (man sausage)" rather than "I like Crosby".

Except the rule called on the ice was referenced to a rule that states a player must be facing the goalie, in which Pronger was not.

Perhaps they should have called Toronto to determine which direction he was facing. Pronger is so tall that it is hard to remember what height his face and rump should be from the ice, and practically impossible to distinguish between them.

I can see that, but when it all comes to a head, blocking the goalies view is blocking the goalies view.

No, you can't. Assuming the play is on side, and the guy is not in the crease, the ref can't tell a guy where to stand. Screening the goalie is a time-honored tactic; waving your hands in front of him is a joke you pull on your buddies in practice.

Finally someone that can post with actually integrity, nice to see. --Carman

Let me start with I hate Pronger, and the hand was clearly to obstruct the vision of the goalie, also he looked bush league just standing out there, Kipper was looking around him effectively and if he didn't stop to poke Pronger, would likely have stopped the shot.

Its where he clearly looks back to see if he is indeed screening Kipper with his hand.
The action of looking back shows that he is more intent on making sure he is blocking the goaltender's view, and not trying to deflect or play the puck.
If he was looking back to make sure he isn't in the crease, thats one thing, but he wasn't, i don't watch alot of Flyers games, but Pronger didn't look like Homer out there.

Current rules should have allowed this goal because of the facing language, but the loophole approach to the rules isn't the classy thing to do, so it's exactly what we should have expected from Pronger. I like finding a way to win, but I prefer talent over pee-wee tactics.

The rule should be changed to cover intentionally blocking the goalies view with your gloves or skates.
The key is intent, if they are looking back to check on the screen or obviously facing the goalie it should be called.
Screening because you are playing the puck, should be legal.

Thats my take on this, hate for it to happen to the Wings, but we have all come to expect those calls with Homer on the team.

yah that was a bad call..shame too, because he was doing a great job of screening him, kind of looked likeholmer for a second. I have to say, ever since he left the ducks, I started to like him a little, he's a great player.